Gulf Cartel Profile

The Gulf Cartel is one of the oldest and most powerful of Mexico’s criminal groups but has lost territory and influence in recent years to its rivals, including its former enforcer wing, the Zetas. In the cartel's heyday, its boss, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, was considered the country’s most powerful underworld leader, and the Zetas the most feared gang.

A Wilson Center report says Mexico's efforts to improve security in two states containing major oil and gas reserves may yield only short-term results and primarily benefit foreign business, while ignoring long-term efforts to improve citizen security.

Factions of the criminal organizations Zetas and Gulf Cartel announced the two criminal groups have formed an alliance, which, if true, would be a game changer in Mexico's underworld by ending one of the country's bloodiest criminal feuds.

The theft of fuel from Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex has risen by around 33 percent this year, turning into a billion-dollar source of income for organized crime -- a trade facilitated by corrupt employees.

According to Mexico's Attorney General's Office, there are nine major criminal cartels working with some 43 gangs in the country, further indication of just how much Mexican organized crime has fractured, as well as the degree to which the cartels are leaning on smaller gangs to act as muscle.

Mexico's Tamaulipas state was the site of nearly 60 percent of the country's kidnappings in July and saw a drastic spike in the crime compared to previous months, highlighting the government's inability to secure the embattled state.

The continued presence of criminal groups along some of Mexico’s highways, especially in the embattled northeast, has become a litmus test for just how much control the government really has in certain parts of the country.

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Violence exploded in northeastern Mexico this week following the arrest of a Gulf Cartel leader, demonstrating the ability of drug cartels to brazenly create chaos in this hotbed of criminal activity.
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A Wilson Center report says Mexico's efforts to improve security in two states containing major oil and gas reserves may yield only short-term results and primarily benefit foreign business, while... Read More